Former Arcadia mayor pleads guilty to acting as agent for China
The mayor of Arcadia, Eileen Wang, pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent to the People's Republic of China on Friday morning.
Earlier this month, Wang, 56, was charged by the Department of Justice with one count of acting in the U.S. as an illegal agent of a foreign government. After being charged, she agreed to plead guilty, which comes with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 6.
In her plea agreement, Wang admitted to working with her former fiancé, Yaoning "Mike" Sun, who was also one of her campaign staffers, to push pro-Chinese propaganda through the website U.S. News Center. Sun was sentenced to four years in prison for a similar charge earlier this year.
According to the plea agreement, between 2020 and 2022, Wang and Yaoning worked under the direction and control of the PRC government and coordinated with U.S.-based individuals to promote its interests.
Wang and Sun operated the website, which claims to be a news source for the local Chinese American community. The DOJ claims Wang and Sun posted pro-China content on their website. The content included pre-written articles that were sent to a WeChat thread, an encrypted messaging app, which Wang shared with several other people.
In their announcement of the charge, prosecutors pointed to an exchange between Wang and a Chinese official from August 2021.
The DOJ said the Chinese official requested Wang make changes to an article. After she made the edits, the official messaged Wang, "Great!" to which she replied with "Thank you, leader," according to the Justice Department.
"By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government," said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. "Let this serve as a clear warning: individuals who act on behalf of foreign governments to influence our democracy will be identified, investigated, and brought to justice. Protecting the rule of law and the transparency of our democratic process remains at the core of the FBI's mission, and we will continue working alongside our partners to safeguard the integrity of our elections and keep hostile actors from undermining the voices of the American people."
Councilmember Sharon Kwan described the scandal as a sad moment in the city's history.
"Unfortunately, I think this has damaged public confidence, but I also believe Arcadia is resilient," Kwan said. "We can move forward by being honest, transparent and committed to accountability."
Wang was elected to the city council in 2022, and she began her term as mayor in February 2026. She resigned at the beginning of the month, following the announcement of the charges. Councilmembers select the mayor on a rotating basis.
